Lever mechanism.



R. HUFF.

LEVER MECHANISM. Airmen-Ion nun JULY 27,1910.

1 ,1 1 7,385., Patented Nov. 17, 1914 Fig.1.

M n STATES PATENT names. 1

B'UfiSELL HUFJE, 033 DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOB TOPACKARD MOTOR CARCOM- PANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

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Specification ct Letters latent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914 Original application filed may 7, 1908, Serial No. 431,388. Divided and this application filed July 27,

1910. SerialNo. 574,173. 1 v

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, RUSSELL Horn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Detroit, Wayne county, State of Michi an, have invented certain new and useful mprovements in Lever Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to motor vehicles and particularly to the control levers thereof and their connections.

In motor vehicle construction it is desirable to obtain great strength of the various operating parts, together with extreme lightness. To this end the present invention involves an arrangement of nested rock shafts with operating levers attached thereto so as to obtain great strength where most needed without unduly increasing weight.

The invention will be particularly described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a motor vehicle having control mecha nism embodying this invention; and Fig. 2 is a transverse view illustrating the arrangement of operating levers and shafts.

Referring to the drawings in which a motor truck is illustrated, 10 represents the side members of the frame upon which the drivers seat 11 and the dash 12 are mounted. The steering post 13 and the clutch pedal 1 1 are mounted conveniently to the drivers seat as are also the hand brake lever 14, the change speed lever 15 and the reverse lever 16.

In motor vehicle construction it is desirable that the hand brake lever shall be outside of the lever or levers controlling the gears or other devices of the vehicle and it is necessary that the rock shaft to which this lever is connected shall have. sufiicient strength to withstand the great strains which may be put upon it by the operator in the application of the brakes. Not nearly so much strength is-necessary in the shafts to which thechange speed and reverse levers 15 and 16 are connected, as very little effort is required to operate the gears to which these levers are connected.

With the three levers 14, 15 and 16 connected in the ordinary manner respectively with three nested shafts the innermost shaft would be connected with the outer lever 14 and the outermost shaft would be connected the intermediate and outer shafts.

'14 would be connected with the weakest of the three shafts and this innermost shaft would have to be made of large diameter to withstand the strains necessarily put upon it thereby also increasing the. diameter of This objection is avoided in the present invention, and a very satisfactory arrangement of levers and shafts is obtained. A rock shaft 17, which extends entirely across the vehicle and is supported in trunnions 18 and 19 secured to the members 10, is connected at its outer end with the change speed lever 15 and has an arm 20 suitably secured to it and connected with a rod 21 for shifting the change speed gears to their various positions. Said shaft 17 is surrounded by a shaft 22 which is connected at its outer end with the reverse lever 16 and is provided with an arm 23 connected with a rod 24: for operating the reverse gear. Surrounding the shaft 22 is a third shaft 25 having an arm 26 connected with a rod 27 for operating the brakes of the vehicle. The outer end of the shaft 25 is provided with a pair of arms 28 which extend in U form outwardly around the ends of the shafts 17 and 22, and a brake lever 141 is bifurcated at its lower end and the forks 29 thereof are bolted to the respective arms 28 as at 30.

By the above described construction and arrangement, the brake lever 14 is by a strong connection attached to the outer shaft 25 of the three nested shafts and the brakes are thereby operated through the strongest of said three shafts. A further advantage of this construction is that the shaft 25 is necessarily the shortest of the three nested shafts, thus rendering torsional strains less objectionable.

It will be noted that the trunnion 19 which supports the lever ends of the three shafts is provided with upwardly extending integral arms 31 to which are attached guidingmem'bers 32, 33 and 3 1 for guiding the oscillating movements of the levers,and in the case of the member 34 forming a ratchet 35 which coiiperates. with a latch on the brake lever 14 to lock the brake lever in desired position.

This application is a division of my former application, Serial No. 431,386, filed May 7, 1908.

Without lirnitingmyself to the-exact construction and arrangement shown, I claim: 1. The combination with a brake lever and a lever for shiftin other elements of a motor vehicle, of a shaft to which the latter lever is, connected, an outer concentric shaft,

and projecting beyond one side thereof, substantially parallel operating levers mounted on the projecting ends of said shafts,guides' engaging saidlevers and supported on said frame, and the lever for the inner shaft being arranged between the frame and the lever for the outershaft.

3. The combination with the brake, change'speed and reversing connections of a umen motor vehicle, of concentric shafts carrying operating levers, the brake shaft being outermost and provided witharms support ing the brake operating lever outsideof the other levers. v v

'4. In a motor vehicle, the combination ing lever, of a plurality of hollow shafts concentric with the change speed shaft, conwith the change speed shaft audits operatv nections between the outer hollow shaftand the brakedevices, and arms at the outer-end of the brake shaft, and an operatin lever carried by said arms in a position outside the other levers.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses;

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I. DALE, i M. L. Gmnnmnrsrnn. 

